Summer Musings

ideas, outfits, and items I'm into this season

Hello my friends!

Happy Summer Solstice to readers in the Norther Hemisphere- I hope your local farm stands are abundant with fruit, your freezers full of popsicles, and that you’re able to find some cool water to splash in. I’m back with some seasonal musings for you, and for me. I love gathering and distilling my interests for the season in this format- the practice has helped me to identify and articulate what I’m into (and why), which in turn has allowed me to strengthen my ability to translate these ideas and interests through my own lens. As always, I’ve included my keywords, snippets from my moodboard, and style element ideas for the season ahead.

I am famously not a fan of Summer dressing, I specifically only thrive when I’m near or in the water during the heat, and I find that I fall into a pattern of soft shorts and button-up shirts from Solstice to September. My goal this year is to avoid my usual Summer outfit rut, and have some fun with my sartorial choices while keeping cool.

My keywords for the season are: Juicy, Easy, Nostalgic

This Summer is all about juicy colour combinations, clean and simple silhouettes, embellishments that feel personal, and textures that feel good on salty skin right after an ocean dip. I’m leaning into a little romance, a lot of sportiness, and the ease of days spent outside. A little Carrie Bradshaw, a little camp counsellor, with just a dash of Victorian ghost.

Colour
I’m still feeling great about my core colour story after I refreshed it in the Fall, but I definitely have some wildcards that I want to play with for Summer. My Spring wildcards (pale pink, dutch blue, twilight) are still relevant and on my radar, and I’m also thinking about juicy, saturated colours that call to mind my favourite Summer stone fruits. I typically lean a little brighter with my colour choices in the warmer months, and there are a couple of specific hues that I’m feeling drawn to lately.

The deep, verdant green is a part of my Baseline palette, and I especially love to feature it during the Summer. It’s a colour that I usually associate with Fall, but I love how it plays with my brighter seasonal wildcards and I find myself reaching for it a lot at this time of year. I especially love it paired with red and butter yellow, and I’m curious to combine it with…
This specific blue- bright, nostalgic, not quite azure, or aqua, or turquoise? It feels like a riff on my Winter wildcard colours (turquoise and teal), made a little juicier for Summer. Pantone calls it Scuba blue, which calls to mind 90s nostalgia. I love how it plays with some of my Baseline colours like red and green, and I have a vision of pairing it with chocolate brown and butter yellow.

Texture- I’m talking easy, breezy Summer staples like crisp cotton poplin and rumpled linen, crinkly nylon that dries quickly after splashing around in the river, some silk dupion for unexpected shine, crochet details for a little romance, unexpected embellishments, and vintage cotton loopback sweats that can absorb the remnants of salty water after an ocean dip. I’m specifically hoping to find a bag with interesting texture (studs? leather chainlink? feathers? sequins?!) to elevate even my most simple Summer outfits.

Silhouette- This is where I struggle the most during warm weather. I prefer not to highlight the shape of my body, and I find my options feel limited when the temperature climbs. I’d like to explore some playful voluminous dresses, sculptural cream puff tops, layered tanks, and loose bermudas and capris. I’m also going to push outside my comfort zone and find a way to make the tiny top/big shorts combo work for me.

Casual Romance Revival- For anyone who has been following me for a while, you’ll remember Casual Romance from my Personal Style Themes. I put this theme on the back burner for 2024 because it wasn’t calling to me, but I’ve been feeling drawn to some romantic touches lately. I’m particularly inspired by my own pieces from 2017-2019, Edwardian corset covers and nightgowns that I styled with vintage army fatigues and beat up workwear. The tension between garments that “don’t belong” together has been a cornerstone of my style for many years, and I’m keen to revisit this particular chapter with some new tricks up my sleeve. I have a habit of rescuing damaged vintage textiles from the thrift, and I’m currently cobbling together a slip skirt made from old pillow cases with Battenburg lace and Broderie Anglaise panels. I’m picturing it styled with a crisp button up shirt and sporty sandals for an easy everyday outfit.

2017-2019 I was almost always in some kind of old-timey underwear. Pls note the brooch!!!!

I’m currently away in the mountains and I brought this project along with me. I’m hoping that my very edited travel capsule will motivate me to finish it

If these ideas and images feel familiar to you, it’s probably because I’ve shared them before. Much of my Summer inspiration has carried over from Spring, which carried over from Winter, which carried over from seasons before. The thing is, I haven’t made very many moves in regards to acquiring/making new pieces, so I haven’t had much opportunity to put a lot of these ideas into practice yet. If you’ve been here for a while you know that I like to let ideas steep and ripen, and I don’t personally find value in starting from scratch with my inspiration each season. Even though I haven’t made many moves to expand my wardrobe lately, that’s not to say that I haven’t been looking- I’ll admit that the flickers of Summer we’ve been seeing have me feeling especially excited for a little freshness. I’ll be doing a separate post on my warm weather wishlist to get into all the details, including some recent acquisitions.

Forgive me for repeating myself, but it’s always important for me to mention that none of these ideas are intended as trend predictions or suggestions- this is purely what I’m into these days. I offer the Colour/Texture/Silhouette framework as a way for you to look at what you’re into, and hopefully understand your own taste a little better.

As always, thanks so much for reading. I’ll be back soon with my warm weather wishlist.